A GRANT worth £800,000 will allow Aire Rivers Trust to reintroduce Atlantic Salmon into the waterway.

The Environment Agency (EA) and Aire Rivers Trust have teamed up to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to continue their £1.6 million Developing The Natural Aire (DNAire) project.

This project will build ‘fish passes’ on four weirs, at Saltaire, Armley, Kirstall and New Lay, which is the last major barrier to fish movement between the North Sea and Gargrave in the Yorkshire Dales.

The River Aire was previously home to salmon but industrial pollution and weirs left much of the stretch of water lifeless.

DNAire will use the grant to fill in the missing gap between Leeds and Gargrave, which will result in the return of salmon and allow coarse fish, including dace and barbel, to move freely up and down the river to find the best places to feed, spawn and shelter.

The project has secured the funds, which it will receive once it has worked out the project’s development, before submitting the final bid to release the cash in spring 2019.

The Trust and EA will be taking on a couple of people to work out the detail of the project over the next 18 months and hope to start actual delivery, subject to stage two approval by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), in autumn 2019.

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Kevin Sunderland, Aire Rivers Trust trustee, said: “Support for DNAire by the HLF recognises the value of the heritage of the River Aire and what a wonderful space it is for people and wildlife.

“It’s been our long held ambition to allow the passage of coarse fish and enable the return of migratory fish to one of Yorkshire’s great rivers.

“Salmon back in the Aire will benefit people and communities along the river and help them to see the river as something worth caring for.”

Geoff Roberts, Aire Rivers Trust chairman, said the funding announcement was fantastic.